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International kava committee say kava's ban unjustified
By Rachel Manuel
German scientist Joerg Gruenwald and the International Kava Executive Committee (IKEC) are working to revoke the ban on kava, he said on the second day of the Kava Festival on October 6. In 2001, kava was banned in Germany because the plant allegedly could cause liver damage. Shortly after, other countries began placing restrictions on kava-related products.
What is IKEC?
IKEC was created in November 2003 with Gruenwald as its executive director to oppose kava’s ban and its severe economic consequences. It includes representatives of national pharmaceutical and herbal associations and producers from the South Pacific and Europe. IKEC is an international non-profit organization dedicated to re-establishing the kava trade between the South Pacific Islands and Europe, guaranteeing consumers a safe product and reducing the financial damage that resulted from Europe’s restrictions.
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Protesters write a message on the Victory Column in Berlin. Image from www.newmediaexplorer.org. |
Kava, a 2,000-year-old tradition
Kava has been traditionally used for more than 2,000 years as a beverage and in herbal medicines. Its popularity in Europe and the United Sates led to a tremendous increase for its demand. More lands were planted with kava, and the South Pacific Islands economy was dependent on it.
No occurrences of liver problems or obvious cases of liver toxicity in the South Pacific have been reported, according to IKEC. Director of the National Tropical Botanical Garden in Hawaii, Dr. P.A. Cox said, “The indigenous people of the Pacific have used kava longer than anyone in Europe, and if there is a liver threat, they should be suffering from it.” Though there have been a few mild side effects associated with it, when taken for long periods in high doses, it has never been reported to cause hepatotoxicity.
Germany’s kava ban brings economic disaster
But in 2001, German and Swiss health authorities began restricting the sales of Kava products- a result of several reported cases of adverse reactions allegedly associated with Kava intake. In 2002, the German Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices, BfArM, banned the sale of kava products, shutting down the German market. Other countries followed. Bans and recalls occurred throughout Canada, England, Australia and Switzerland.
This led to economic disaster for the kava industry. Export rates failed dramatically in European countries. In Hawaii and the South Pacific, the rates were reduced up to 75 percent in 2002, compared to 2001. The price of kava dropped severely and eventually led to the breakdown of local industries. Farmers became bankrupt. Many were unemployed. Because of alerts and product recalls, there was a mass termination of exports in the South Pacific. In Fiji, Samoa, Tonga and Vanuatu, more than $200 million was lost in export revenue.
The German institute justified the ban by saying that there is a great risk of “severe, life threatening adverse effects on the liver” when using kava and that its efficacy could not be proven. In one instance cited by German authorities, kava was blamed for an 81-year-old woman’s death from liver failure. She had consumed a kava product earlier, however post-mortem investigation had found that her liver cirrhosis had started before she first consumed Kava.
In response, IKEC is working to restore the industry and to prove that the ban is not scientifically justified.
Lobbying for ban’s removal
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Click image for report, "In-depth Investigation Into EU Member States Market Restrictions On Kava Products." |
Clinical trials done by a German institute for phytopharmaceuticals confirmed that kava is safe to use for herbal medicine and as a recreational beverage, according to the report. Phytopharm Consulting was commissioned by The European Center for Development of Enterprise (EU CDE) to prepare a report in 2003. The report, “In-depth Investigation Into EU Member States Market Restrictions On Kava Products,” proves kava's effectiveness and safety in treating conditions of nervous anxiety, stress and restlessness. More than 20 clinical trials were done, with more than 10,000 patients.
Gruenwald, the president of Phytopharm Consulting who prepared the report, said that drug regulation authorities' claims that kava use was harmful could not be clearly proven. Of the 76 reported cases of hepatotoxic effects between 1990 and 2002, only four cases might be a result of kava consumption, based on studies done by EU CDE. During the trials, less than 2 percent of the patients complained of adverse effects, most of them gastrointestinal.
Analysis concludes ban is unjustified
Many experts and health authorities agree with the EU CDE report and confirm that kava, when properly used, is effective and safe, without potential severe side effects. They criticized the conclusion that kava was potentially dangerous, which they said was prematurely formed with insufficient data. The EU CDE report stated that decisions made by other countries after Germany’s ban were based upon questionable and partly erroneous evaluation that was proposed by the German institute.
Compound found in peelings to blame?
A group of University of Hawaii scientists said they believe that the usage of peelings from the stem bark of kava plants in herbal supplements may be causing severe liver damage. Within the stem peelings and leaves, there is a compound that is not found in the roots. The scientists, directed by professor C.S. Tang, believe that this compound was what was causing liver-related injuries. Traditionally, the peelings were discarded, but these scientists had learned that companies in Europe had been buying up peelings from Fiji.
Tang had written with researcher Klaus Dragull and W.Y. Yoshida in a research paper that they found the alkaloid pipermethstine when testing stem peelings and kava leaves. Researcher Pratibha Nerurkar had done tests, which show that this alkaloid has a “strong negative effect” on liver cell cultures. The scientists suspect that peelings containing pipermethstine might have been used in kav`a capsules, which could explain the liver damage that resulted in some people who took the capsules.
Current activities to reintroduce kava
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In Berlin, several European herbalists and producers from the South Pacific call for the ban on kava to be revoked. Image from www.newmediaexplorer.org. |
In April 2004, IKEC representatives met with the German Health Ministry. Discussions led to the decision to determine a design for collecting new data, of which the results could settle the matter of kava’s safety. Representatives consider this a success because this could lead to the plant’s re-evaluation. Other decisions made include defining boundaries for industry standards for kava’s quality, supporting researchers from Europe and the South Pacific to identify the best and safest kava varieties and investigating hypotheses explaining the possible ways that kava might have caused potentially toxicological effects.
IKEC has come up with several proposals to guarantee safety when using kava, such as using only the rootstock and only in its traditional form and placing warnings for dosage limitation. Their other current activities include meeting with the Deputy Health Minister of Germany and organizing meetings with national health authority representatives from Germany and the United Kingdom. The World Health Organization had also done a reevaluation of all available data on Kava.
Amriza of Kalanaki'i Farm on Hilo said during the Kava Festival, "The kava market is building back up. I think it's already done the damage it could and it's coming back from it." During his presentation, Gruenwald said that kava will make its way back to the market. It is just a matter of time.
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